Rites to Sedition - Ancestral Blood

Artist: Rites to Sedition
Release Title: Ancestral Blood
Year: 2017
Label: Self-Released/Independent
Genre: Melodic Black Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Waveform 66
2. The Moon Titan Phylon
3. Echelons of Imposition
4. Ancestral Blood
5. Sorcerers of Atlantis
6. Wartide
7. The Soul-Mind Catechism
8. The Golden Aeon of Saturnia

Formed just in 2014, North Carolina-based melodic black metallers Rites to Sedition have taken their influence from the old-school melodic black metal scene to craft an ambitious effort upon the origins of man and his epic quest to overcome occult mysteries. Dropping to a four-piece before recording as Gabriel Lucia took over vocal duties from original vocalist Brian Kingsland, their self-released debut album was released March 29, 2017.

From the beginning, this one comes complete with a stellar series of influences and musicianship that positions them immediately into the genre’s upper echelons. This is mainly built around the utterly phenomenal riff-work present, featuring plenty of thrilling tremolo patterns full of fiery rhythms and a multitude of tempo changes that allows this one to generate a slew of exciting rhythms. By adding in a technicality to these riffs alongside the ability to utilize the grandiose soundscapes throughout here, this manages to acquire a feeling of explosive icy black metal riffing that develops a variety of tempos and patterns throughout here as the vast array of exceptionally glorious rhythms throughout here which help to make the melodic leads all the more impressive. Running over furious tempos as well as plodding mid-paced efforts makes a huge impact on their rhythms by enabling this one to readily shift focus into the varying tempos and not lose any sense of power or grandeur in the attack, making this a spectacular showing that’s able to generate these varying moods and atmospheres here. If you’re into picking for flaws of the album, this one does tend to feel it’s length with the fact that the tracks here really get up there in length and that does make this feel somewhat of a drag as it goes on. However, it’s still not all that detrimental an effort.

With just the most minor of barely-detrimental issues cropping up throughout this one, there’s plenty to absolutely enjoy about this one as there are so many enjoyable and surprising elements to be found here that this makes for an easy recommend for fans looking for melodic or symphonic-heavy black metal.

Score: 95/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
https://ritestosedition.bandcamp.com/album/ancestral-blood

Abhorrent Deformity - Entity of Malevolence

Artist: Abhorrent Deformity
Release Title: Entity of Malevolence
Year: 2015
Label: Comatose Music
Genre; Brutal Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Crown of Worms
2. Manifested Filth
3. Skeleton Carver
4. Buried Beneath Human Remains
5. Stench of the Decomposed
6. Boundless Suffering
7. Entity of Malevolence
8. Enshrined in Putrid Decay
9. Baptized in Embalming Fluid
10. Casket Maker

Founded in 2013, North Carolina brutal death metallers Abhorrent Deformity have quickly taken the scene by storm with an impressive onslaught of shows and rehearsals that turned out their first demo in less than a year of existence. Now finally ready to unleash their full-length debut, the effort is released October 30, 2015 on Comatose Music.

Taking their cues from the modern brutal death metal scene, the group decides to take on the usual series of utterly pummeling patterns and tight, frenzied riff-work for their attack. This allows for a series of blast-heavy rhythms and sludgy, dirty riff-work that range between those lightning-fast raging riffing to the more sprawling, stuttering paces that really round out the kind of scattered, frantic rhythms that are simply devastating in their approach. Other approaches here, from the series of rather hammering drum-work and simply blinding series of frantic patterns in the riffing that just produces a blur of discordant, sonic noise that really fuels the album’s brutality quite handily. That part of the album, though, really brings about it’s problem areas as this series of frenzied, utterly blistering rhythm patterns and boundless drumming really just doesn’t offer up all that much of a singular approach, taking it on so many varied tangents and highly disjointed arrangements that there’s little about these sections that really speaks to any coherent vision. They’re more content to simply fire away vicious and blistering patterns without little coherent thought behind them, and they come off bland and not all that impressive in the long run. Though it can somewhat be forgiven being a debut effort, there’s still the effect running throughout here.

Though it has some problems in the rather bland and overall directionless march of its brutality-laced rhythms, this is still somewhat less of an issue than expected due to being a debut and without a whole lot of other issues being present it manages to offer up enough that its appeal is strictly more for the less-discriminating brutal death metal savants.

Score: 73/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://www.comatosemusic.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=21_22&products_id=5622